On July 9, Muppies DC hosted an iftar in partnership with Islamic Relief USA to raise money for Islamic Relief USA’s various aid projects with a particular focus on projects that help support educational initiatives. With over 70 attendees, the event brought together the networking and professional development goals that are foundation of Muppies with the spiritual and community aspect of Ramadan. We specifically wanted to focus on education projects because a good education is the foundation of professional and career success. By providing educational opportunities to children around the world, we are able to fulfill the mission of Muppies on a wider and more global scale.
The featured speaker of the event was Anwar Khan, the CEO of Islamic Relief USA. Mr. Khan has more than 20 years of experience in humanitarian assistance and development work. He shared his experiences in working with Islamic Relief USA, aiding in the organization’s expansion, and the challenges he faced along the way. Mr. Khan’s words were especially helpful to the DC audience, since many of the Muppies members are interested in NGO, non-profit, and development work.
After prayer and a delicious iftar and dinner catered from a local Afghani restaurant, guests had an opportunity to learn about Islamic Relief’s various aid projects around the world and in the United States. Said Durrah of Islamic Relief USA shared many personal stories of the people who are helped through Islamic Relief’s aid. We were especially touched by stories that Said shared about his own family. His aunt recently passed away from cancer after the doctors originally misdiagnosed her as having acid reflex disease while his cousin lost her twin babies. In an effort to prevent more heartbreaking stories, Islamic Relief is building hospitals and medical facilities to promote misdiagnoses and provide help preventing life threatening diseases. By the end of the night, we had raised just over $10,000 for Islamic Relief.
The stories shared by Anwar Khan and Said Durrah gave all of us a better understanding of how blessed we are and the opportunities that we have to share those blessings with others—whether it is through financial contributions or establishing other organizations that serve others in our communities and around the world.
Written by Nadia Mozaffar, On Behalf of The Muppies DC Board
Each month, Muppies features an event hosted by one of our Local Committees. Muppies has Local Committees in various cities across the world. This event occurred in July of 2015 in Washington DC. The opinions in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Muppies, Inc.
